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Visitor Information: The Museum's Resident Avro Vulcan XM597 |
Regular travellers along the A1 through East Lothian will have seen signs pointing to the Museum of Flight at East Fortune. This is a slight detour well worth taking for anyone with an interest in aviation who is looking for a great day out.
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The Museum of Flight is the Scottish National Aviation Museum, and part of the National Museums of Scotland. It occupies the four hangars and a number of other buildings at East Fortune airfield. The museum originally opened its doors to the public on 7 July 1975 and has since gone from strength to strength. It is now home to a large and impressive collection of over 50 complete aircraft, plus many aero-engines, aircraft parts, models and a large reference library of publications and images. The Museum of Flight also hosts a range of special events during the year and each July hosts the East Fortune Airshow, one of Scotland's major airshows.
After passing through the museum's visitor reception building and shop, most visitors begin their visit at the Concorde Experience, housed in Hangar 4. Much of the hangar is given over to the dramatically lit Concorde which made an epic journey from Heathrow to East Fortune by land and sea in 2004. A range of displays give an insight into all aspects of Concorde's development and operation, but for most people it is the aircraft itself which commands attention.
And it's not just the outside of the world's most remarkable aeroplane you can admire. The admission price to the museum includes a Concorde Boarding Pass which gives access to the remarkably long and even more remarkably narrow interior. Boarding Passes are booked for a particular time and numbers are limited, to ensure that visitors are able to enjoy the experience to the full. It is advisable to book Boarding Passes in advance. Hangar 4 is also home to one of the museum's newer acquisitions, a Sepecat Jaguar GR1A which served with the RAF in the Gulf War in 1991.
The Museum of Flight has three other large hangars at East Fortune. Furthest from the man entrance and Concorde Experience is Hangar 1. You can't miss it: this is the hangar with the Avro Vulcan and the De Havilland Comet parked outside. Here you find the museum's excellent military collection.
 The Concorde Experience |
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 Concorde Passenger Cabin |
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 Concorde Cockpit |
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 Sepecat Jaguar in Hangar 4 |
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 The Museum's BAC 1-11 |
Most obvious as you enter is a Lightning F2A used by 92 Squadron at RAF Gutersloh in Germany in the 1970s. But you will also find other aircraft including the Meteor, Harrier and Buccaneer, and a naval collection including the Sea Hawk and Sea Vixen: plus a US Marines Phantom from the Vietnam War. Earlier aircraft on display include a Messerschmidt Me163 Komet rocket plane which could briefly achieve speeds of 600mph and was the fastest aircraft of World War Two. The hangar is also home to a beautiful late model Spitfire. Perhaps the best way to get a feel for the the hanger and the aircraft in it is from a raised viewing platform which runs along part of the side nearest the door.
In Hangar 2 is the museum's collection of commercial passenger aircraft. These include classics like a Scottish Aviation Twin Pioneer, a De Havilland Dove, and a Beech E-18. There is also a Scottish Aviation Jetstream 31 corporate jet or small airliner which you can board at times shown in the hangar. An earlier generation of aircraft is represented by a De Havilland Dragon, a type which first flew in 1932. The museum's aircraft spent most of its working life in Australia. Another once very common type that is now extremely rare is the Avro Anson.
The remaining hangar at East Fortune, Hangar 3, houses the museum's reserve collection of aircraft and a number of aircraft undergoing restoration. Access is by means of regular guided tours, and you should enquire at the main ticket desk on arrival about tour times. Aircraft on view include the Scottish Aviation Bulldog, the de Havilland Tiger Moth, and the de Havilland Puss Moth.
Not far from Hangar 3 is a building housing one of the museum's newer exhibitions, Fortunes of War, which tells the human story of service at East Fortune during its decades as a military airfield. Two other relatively recent arrivals at the Museum of Flight are an exhibition of vintage radio, radar and avionics equipment in the Radar Room, and "Fantastic Flight", an interactive gallery exploring how and why things fly. Both are fairly close to Hangar 1.
East Fortune itself has a history dating back to 1916, when it was used as a base by aircraft defending Edinburgh from attack by Zeppelins. In 1919 the airfield was the point of departure for the R34 airship as it set off on its record breaking return trip over the Atlantic. East Fortune served throughout WWII and in the summer of 1961 was used as Edinburgh's airport while the runway at Turnhouse was rebuilt. It has spent the last 35 years as the home of the Museum of Flight.
 Lightning F2A of 92 Sqn, RAF Gutersloh, in Hangar 1 |
